THE ROTOR SHIP IN A HURRICANE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 12 May 1925, Page 7

THE ROTOR SHIP IN A HURRICANE

The Flctlncr rotor system of ship propulsion was subjected to a good deal . of criticism recently at a special meeting aranged bv the Hamburg Nautical Club for the purpose of discussing the practical value of the rotor ship. A paper was read, states the Shipping World, by Herr Ludwig Benjamin, civil engineer, of Hamburg, who said it might be assumed that altogether the rotor ship would make on an average about the same use of the wind power as would a sailing vessel. The special merits of the rotor ship were the simplified nature of tlie driving mechanism and the fact that only one man was necessary to handle it front the bridge. There was, however, little doubt that rotor ships destined for actual sea service would have to bo fitted with a strong screw-driving engine. The power which might be taken from the wind by the rotors was limited by the stability conditions just as with a sailing ship; the case which had to be taken under consideration in this respect was that of a vessel with non-revolving rotors in a hurricane. Compared with a sailing vessel, the- conditions were such that the rigging of a sailing vessel with guyed up saiis amounted to about 8 per cent of the spread sail while a rotor ship had to- have a projected area of the rotors of about 10 per cent, of vhe canvas area of a sailing ship in order to be able to take about the same

poAyer out of the Avind. Therefore the resistance the driving gear of a- rotor ship offered to the Avind Avould be someAvhat larger than that offered by the guyed up rig of a sailing A-essei, so that the rotor ship compared unfavourably in this respect.